Jose has that winning feeling

Jose Mourinho will prioritise winning over remaining undefeated as Chelsea go in search of trophies.

The Blues are unbeaten after 20 matches in all competitions this season, leading to suggestions of a Premier League campaign without defeat.

Chelsea — prevented from scoring for the first time last Saturday at Sunderland — play Tottenham tonight and Mourinho knows silverware is the target, not matching Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ of a decade ago.

He said: “One thing is that I don’t think it’s possible (to complete a season unbeaten). The other thing is that we are not playing for that.

“If (against Spurs) we have a 0-0 with 20 minutes to go, we are not going to play for the 0-0 to be undefeated after 21 matches. No way.

“If you play for that, if that is one objective, maybe you draw so many matches, you don’t take risks to try and win matches. You are happy just to be undefeated. If you get 10 draws, you get 10 points. If you win five and lose five, you make 15 points.

“We are going to play matches to win. And, sometimes, we will lose. I’d prefer 15 points and lost matches than 10 points and being undefeated.”

Neverthless Mourinho believes Chelsea are in the midst of a “perfect season” so far and that even a first defeat of the campaign would not alter the Blues’ burgeoning self-belief.

“What do you want the team to do or to feel when a team is doing a perfect season?” Mourinho said.

“Top of the league in the Premier League. Top of the group in the Champions League. Quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup. Not losing one match for four months. The team has to feel very very well. And, when the defeat arrives, I think we have to feel exactly in the same way.”

For Spurs to end the Blues’ unbeaten streak, they must win at Stamford Bridge for the first time since February 1990, when Gary Lineker scored the winning goal.

Chelsea will be without striker Diego Costa, who serves a one-game ban after being shown his fifth yellow card of the season in last Saturday’s goalless draw at Sunderland. Loic Remy or Didier Drogba are likely to start up front in his place. “We don’t speak about Diego,” Mourinho said.

“Forget Diego, we trust the other two and we go with the other two.”

Some consider only Manchester City capable of catching and overhauling Chelsea, but Mourinho disagrees.

“There’s a long way to go,” he added. “Teams with 10- 12- 14-, 15- point difference, they are not out of the title race. I don’t think so.”

Mauricio Pochettino has told Tottenham to forget about their terrible record at Chelsea as they look to become the first team to defeat the Barclays Premier League leaders this season.

“I don’t read about Tottenham’s record at Chelsea. For us it is important to go and feel the same mentality which we showed against Everton and forget the past. We do not need to let the past affect our present,” the Argentine coach said.

“We know that Chelsea are a very strong squad of the Premier League, they are an unbelievable team. We know that tomorrow we should expect a very tough game.”

Spurs have improved in recent weeks, with just one defeat in their last seven matches in all competitions. Indeed, should results go their way elsewhere in midweek, then Pochettino’s side could move into the top four.

“We don’t look at the table yet – for now, it is important just to play the same way as we did against Everton and show our fans this is the way we want to play,” the Spurs boss said.

“We have scored in the last 14 games and we are more confident in our skill today than we were yesterday, but we also know we are facing a strong defensive team.

“We will need to believe in the way we play, believe we can score and believe we can take the three points.”